Puteri Santubong - Mythical Princess of Sarawak.

    Myths mean story or word from the Greek mythos. Mythology is the study of myth. Myths articulate how characters undergo, or enact an ordered sequences of events. Puteri (Princess) Santubong is one of the myths of Sarawak. 

  Damai area is not far from Kuching which lies a set of picturesque low mountains. We can find an even better view from Bako National Park where from the beach on a clear day the profile of Gunung (Mountain) Santubong looks like a pregnant lady lying on the horizon.

         
Bako National Park, Sarawak

   Mountain Santubong   

    This is the abode of Puteri Santubong the mythical princess of yore. There are a few versions of this ancient myth, and here is told the popular general version.

   Long ago when Borneo was a young island; giants and spirits were known to humans which moving back and forth between earth and kayangan (the celestial kingdom). One day the king saw that there was fighting among the people down the earth. So he sent two princesses named Puteri Santubong, and Puteri Sejinjang to make peace between the villages. These two lovely princesses used their charms to get people to finally stop fighting. Peach return, and the area was called Damai (tranquil). 

Damai Beach Resort, Kuching.

    The people were so grateful that they begged the two to stay, and both graciously did. Puteri Santubong took-up cloth-weaving, and Puteri Sejinjang pounded rice paddy. Their beauty remained, and they were known far and wide, but Puteri Santubong became more sought after by the handsome suitors throughout the land due to her delightful cloths. Soon she got married, and became pregnant. 

      Puteri Sejinjang unfortunately became jealous, and claimed that she was more beautiful than her sister. Santubong would not agree, and a huge argument ensued between the two. Sejinjang became violent, and hit her pounding pestle on the head of Santubong. Puteri Santubong then fell to the earth, and grew into the mountain that bears her name, but just before Santubong fell she threw her weaving loom's beam at Sejinjang which breaking a part of her body, and scattered into the sea; creating the islands in the area (Pulau Kera, and so on). The rest of Sejinjang's body also fell to the earth, and became the other mountain near Mount Santubong. 

Pulau Kera

If you look at Mount Santubong from the sea; you can see the outline of a pregnant women, and even the gully, or crevice where Sejinjang hit Santubong's head with the pestle.